Boy, 6, Killed When Deputies Open Fire on Suspect

A 6-year-old boy was shot dead in a mobile home in Texas four days before Christmas when sheriff’s deputies opened fire on a suspect outside, authorities said.

“In my opinion, it’s a tragic accident that led to the death of this young man,” Sheriff Javier Salazar of Bexar County said at a news conference Friday, referring to Kameron Prescott.

The shooting occurred Thursday in Schertz, Texas, a small city near San Antonio. Salazar said a deputy was responding to a call about a stolen vehicle when he found the suspect, a woman who was wanted on two felony warrants.

He said the woman appeared to be armed and threatened to shoot the deputy before she fled. Hours later, she made her way to the mobile home park.

Salazar said she forced her way into one of the homes. Kameron was inside with his grandfather and a girl.

The suspect threatened to steal their car before going outside and confronting five sheriff’s deputies. She threatened to shoot them, Salazar said, adding that she appeared to be holding something resembling a handgun.

Four deputies opened fire, killing her. Officials later found “some sort of a dark-colored pipe that very well could look like a gun barrel” near where she fell, Salazar said. As of Friday, officials had not recovered a weapon.

One of the deputies’ bullets struck Kameron, Salazar said; a deputy administered first aid but was unable to save his life.

An internal investigation is underway, and the four deputies who opened fire were placed on administrative leave for five days.

“Preliminarily, it appears that policies and procedures were complied with,” Salazar said.

National statistics on fatal police shootings are notoriously spotty, but three of the most extensive databases on officer-involved fatalities — compiled by The Washington Post, Fatal Encounters, and Killed by Police — list no police shooting victims in 2017 who were younger than Kameron.

Several pregnant women, however, have died in police shootings this year, and some children died in crashes and other car accidents involving officers.

“Kameron was the kindest-hearted little boy that I have ever had the pleasure of teaching,” Shanda Ince, Kameron’s first-grade teacher, said in a statement Friday.

Family members could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday. Kameron’s uncle, Christopher Gonzales, told KENS 5 Eyewitness News on Friday that the shooting was “shocking.”

“The police, we hope that you hold your people accountable no matter what,” he said. “I am sorry that it comes to this, but you are people just like us at the end of the day, and you deserve to be held just as accountable.”